Quote from bill on January 7, 2015, 9:25 am

I was doing some digging recently on the King Cotton Carnival held in Augusta Georgia between 1890 and 1893 (related to the HK-626 piece). It seems that this event was held annually, first in 1890 (14-16 January 1890), and subsequently each year until 1893, when it died out (likely due to the World's Columbian Expo drawing away the crowds). The Trades Display and Carnival Association met in November 1889 and decided to hold a carnival in 1890 at the annual Georgia Poultry and Pet Stock Association Fair. The motivation related to hosting a similar event that New Orleans had for the financial draw. In the second year the carnival was held (20-23 January 1891), a medal (unlisted so-called, see John Raymond's site) was issued both in white metal and bronze (see attached images). Parades and displays were held, and the last night of the event, a ball was held at the Arlington Hotel in which the identify of "King Cotton II" was revealed. In the third year the carnival was held (26-28 January 1892), at least 50,000 people came to the events, and on the last night of the "King Cotton III" was revealed as Mr. T.C. Bligh, a prominent local businessman. HK-626 stems from this third year. In January 1893, the final year, only 15,000 people attended, and the event closed with a "King Cotton IV." As with many other SCDs, events such as these were important to share new innovations and usually were financially beneficial for the cities that held them. Clearly the WCE of 1892-1893 benefited Chicago as did San Francisco's Midwinter Fair in 1894. I did find note that the Arlington Hotel in Augusta GA burned down in the late 1890s due to a fire in the block of buildings it occupied. It would be interesting to know if there are any tokens from that hotel.

Quote from billycgribble on January 7, 2015, 7:00 pm

They both look good to me. Interesting question.

Quote from billycgribble on January 7, 2015, 9:54 pm

I would like to know what others think about two early unlisted so called dollars. You may have noticed that there is a large 27 year gap between HK4 and HK5. Two medals that fall within this time period that I think probably qualify as so called dollars are as follows: 1)The first is a medal that I have on my website (#70). It commemorates an 1840 fair that was organized to raise money to complete the Bunker Hill Monument. This piece is listed in Dewitt, but is not political. The fair was held in conjunction with a political convention near by, but was seperate from that convention. The piece on my website has some striations around the entire edge that look sort of like file marks. However I contacted the ANS in New York and asked them if their specimens also show these striations. They had one in bronze like mine, and another in white metal. Both of theirs also had the same striations, so I guess they were all minted that way. 2)The second medal is a Jenny Lind piece commemorating her appearance at Castle Garden in New York City in 1850. One of the inscriptions on the medal reads: ?First Concert In America?. I think I read somewhere that tickets sold for as much as an amazing $1,000. I suppose it shows how desperate many Americans were for entertainment. No wonder the worlds fairs came later. I don't own this piece(wish I did) but there is a picure of this piece in the John Ford Stacks auction catalog #9 lot #45. HK2-4 were listed on the previous page of the same auction catalog (lots #34 through #39). Also HK 1, HK 589, and HK297 were listed shortly after (lots #56, #57, #64, #66). Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else knows of any other pieces that might qualify within this time frame. In that same John Ford auction there are also three Tom Thumb medals(lots #42,43,44) that might qualify, but I think they might be a bit too advertising-like in nature, but I'm not really sure Also, lot #41 is interesting but seems to be more presentational in nature. There is also lot #40 in the same auction which is similar to HK2. I'm unsure about this one. It is undated and Stacks was not sure when it was made. If any of you reading this wants me to mail you photocopies of the pages in the catalog that I am refering to, please email me at jraymond@nwi.net. There is also a large time gap(17 years) in section 2 between HK589a-c and HK590, but this time gap is a bit later. Any thoughts are appreciated. JR

I still favor inclusion of the 1848 Washington Monument piece

Quote from jraymond on January 9, 2015, 9:15 pm

I would like to know what others think about two early unlisted so called dollars. You may have noticed that there is a large 27 year gap between HK4 and HK5. Two medals that fall within this time period that I think probably qualify as so called dollars are as follows: 1)The first is a medal that I have on my website (#70). It commemorates an 1840 fair that was organized to raise money to complete the Bunker Hill Monument. This piece is listed in Dewitt, but is not political. The fair was held in conjunction with a political convention near by, but was seperate from that convention. The piece on my website has some striations around the entire edge that look sort of like file marks. However I contacted the ANS in New York and asked them if their specimens also show these striations. They had one in bronze like mine, and another in white metal. Both of theirs also had the same striations, so I guess they were all minted that way. 2)The second medal is a Jenny Lind piece commemorating her appearance at Castle Garden in New York City in 1850. One of the inscriptions on the medal reads: ?First Concert In America?. I think I read somewhere that tickets sold for as much as an amazing $1,000. I suppose it shows how desperate many Americans were for entertainment. No wonder the worlds fairs came later. I don't own this piece(wish I did) but there is a picure of this piece in the John Ford Stacks auction catalog #9 lot #45. HK2-4 were listed on the previous page of the same auction catalog (lots #34 through #39). Also HK 1, HK 589, and HK297 were listed shortly after (lots #56, #57, #64, #66). Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else knows of any other pieces that might qualify within this time frame. In that same John Ford auction there are also three Tom Thumb medals(lots #42,43,44) that might qualify, but I think they might be a bit too advertising-like in nature, but I'm not really sure Also, lot #41 is interesting but seems to be more presentational in nature. There is also lot #40 in the same auction which is similar to HK2. I'm unsure about this one. It is undated and Stacks was not sure when it was made. If any of you reading this wants me to mail you photocopies of the pages in the catalog that I am refering to, please email me at jraymond@nwi.net. There is also a large time gap(17 years) in section 2 between HK589a-c and HK590, but this time gap is a bit later. Any thoughts are appreciated. JR

Quote from billycgribble on January 9, 2015, 11:15 pm

I still favor inclusion of 1848 Washington Monument piece

Quote from jraymond on August 17, 2015, 2:51 pm

Thanks for your input. I never considered it because it always comes holed, at least in white metal. Because it is an early and significant medal, I suppose it could be treated like HK2-4. I could get into a long discussion here about what I think of holed pieces, but I think I'll pass on that one for now. The ANS evidently has one in silver. Let me try to contact them to see if it is holed or not.

Quote from jraymond on August 18, 2015, 6:50 am

Hello anybody and everybody. A follow up here. Over the last few months I have been giving some more thought to what would be good choices for some of the earliest so called dollars (without going back any further than HK 1 - Ugh... I don't really want to go there). As I mentioned before, there is a 27 year gap between HK4 and HK5. Robert Jessinger put up the Bunker Hill piece here that I have on my web site. It's a good fit I think. It is easy to overlook because of it's association with some similar Dewitt/Sullivan political pieces. The fair was held near a Whig convention, but not part of it. Another piece that fits into that 27 year gap is the Jenny Lind piece that commemorates her first visit and first American concert at Castle Garden(south end of Manhattan) in 1850. I think it was Victor Annaloro who first made me aware of this medal. A third piece is Baker 320, the 1848 National monument medal that comes in both white metal and silver. Billy Gribble mentioned this medal to me in a previous post. At the time, I overlooked the fact that I had actually tallied this piece. As it turns out, a silver one of these sold in a Johnson & Jensen sale October 1983 lot #585, and another sold recently through Stacks. Both sales may be different pieces, but it is hard to tell for sure from the pictures. At any rate, both pieces were unholed. In white metal this piece is not terribly rare, and almost always holed. I am not sure, but it is possible that a few of the white metal pieces also come unholed. Anyway, that's three pieces that fall within that 27 year gap. I'll be putting them all up on my website(one already is) using images from Stacks. I am going to write another post here where I want some opinions on a 4th piece that I know of, and maybe (or maybe not) three others.

Quote from Pioneer on January 2, 2020, 3:59 pm

Well this 1848 WM piece (MS-63) sold in the recent Stacks-Bowers auction of the Baker collection in Nov 2019....and this piece is from Baker's personal reference collection.

This medal commemorates the laying of the Washington monument cornerstone on the National Mall in 1848... finally completed in 1885.